Free Nations City States
Due to the insular nature of the Free Nation almost every city state is a port, or control minor ports nearby. The City States have the power to choose their own form of government and enjoy a large freedom in regulation however for common matters they usually follow the lead of the Eldest Council of Freedomguard. Freedomguard, the first city built by the Free Nations, created on a group of bloodstone pillars on the place where they landed on Bloodmyst after their escape from the clutches of the Beholders, it is now the de facto capital of the nation. Freedomguard control the other city states by a combination of military, economical and religious superiority. It is the seat of the Eldest Council, the ruling body of the Priesthood of Change, that is also the governing power of Freedomguard. It hosts the Hanvis Machine that allows the production of Bloodstone Technology and the Bloodways. Freedomguard is an impressive city most of its structures are carved into massive red stone pillars that emerge directly from the seas and are connected by a series of bridges or small boats that navigate the sea between the pillars. The best artificers of the Free Nation keep providing new wonders for the city state and its vast workshops and forges produce a never ending stream of goods. One of the central feature of Fredoomguard is the Palace of the People the hart of Free Nations’ government, seat of the Eldest Council and main barrack of the Bloodguard, it occupy a cluster of pillars that form a majestic combination of natural towers, water is channeled through the structure to create small rivers and then falling to the sea. The palace is full of wonders and works of art, crafted by the best artists from the known world. The city is surrounded by a defensive ring of towers called the Crown of Fangs, equipped with burst cannons and other wicked bloodstone weapons. Novost, is the accursed place where an unnamed alchemist created the drug known as the Elixir of Sin and where the first artificial bloodborn was given life. Novost is ruled by its powerful army and use his military power to intimidate lesser city and secretly fund pirates to sabotage merchants of other fleets. It is commanded by a Lord General nominated for life and able to choose his successor, in the last millennia he was always chosen within the same family, the Nograv Kos house, however most of them were quite skilled military leaders and expert fighters as the whole family is subjected to an harsh training starting when they are really young. Novost is built on the shores of one of the external islands of the Archipelago, not far by the “bridge” that connect Bloodmyst with the western continent. It was carved in the cliff of a mountain originally, but it has outgrown it and is now surrounded by thousands of stone structures. Novost architecture is based on the principle of utility over appearance and to achieve defensive purposes. Its core is built like a fortress city, able to sustain a prolonged siege and extending deep within the mountain. Its soldier keep constant training for future wars and most of its economy is focused on increasing the efficiency of the army and of the “trading” and “escort” fleets. Its main source of income, a part from oceanic trade with the Warforged and Beacon, is the production within its laboratories of vast amount of Bloodgift, while the secret has being stolen by agents from foreign city states this powerful alchemical drug production is still located here. Novost is the only city state that possess an army composed fully of artificial Bloodborn, recruitment for joining it is extremely selective an training is almost deadly, but after a few years a recruit is granted access to the unholy procedure that allow the transformation of a mortal into one of the Bloodborn, a process whose success is far from certain and can determine the death of the patient. Toraga is a quite unconventional city that is capable of prospering only due to the live and let live attitude of the Free Nation and, someone speculate, some kind of hidden agreement between them and Freedomguard. While its name of Toraga is well known it is most commonly called Pirates Heaven or Scumtown by the other inhabitants of the Free Nations. It is the capital of smugglers, pirates, killers, disgraced, one of the major trading center for stolen goods and illegal items, full of cheap tavern and brothels every crime known to mankind is committed there, except for slavery that is considered a terrible sin in the Free Nations, even for pirates. It is built in a swampy area of the archipelago, it is quite hard for unskilled captains to get there and by land it is even harder. The pirates have filled the local sea with traps that increase the complexity of navigation, only Toraga captains know the safe ways to it. With the introduction of flying vessels weakening the city natural defense its “governors” the 7 Pirate Lords offered a fortune to pirates that are skilled or crazy enough to bring them the Dragon Class Ships and managed to some for themselves, becoming even more dangerous and creating a “sky patrol” to protect Toraga from the marine incursions. Due to their pact with unseen members of Freedomguard government they always manage to discover any attempt to purge the city in time before the marine strike and is capable of stopping them. Due to the low quality of local building materials and the effect of the swamp the city is slowly sinking in the sea and since organized public work does not exist there nothing have being done for now to prevent that from happening, the pirates merely build new structure over the sunken ones or do fast, but not long lasting, reparation to the remaining structures. A large Besasts of Lies’ pack operate in the swamps nearby and the pirates and adventurers that visit the city are often challenged to bring one of the beasts colorful hides as a proof of their skills, some time with (usually false) promise of a rich reward. This hunts rarely succeed the usual outcome is the death of the would be hunters and a quick drink in their honor at a local inn. Vassen''' is a city state ruled by “Trade Princes”, the richest merchant in town, the government is actually semi “representative” because the Prince title can be gained by votes from the city inhabitants, however it is a tradition there that the “princes” usually pay for their votes, offering favors, jobs, or occasionally cash, people that are not played by someone usually just choose not to vote. Corruption run rampant in Vassen as the Princes use their political power to increase personal wealth and influence, however the peculiar inheritance system of the Free Nation, make so that the title of prince is rarely held by the same family for much and that usually these lords are quite skilled men or women and manage to increase the city wealth while working on their own. After the introduction of currency within the Free Nations Trade Lord Wulfric, the leader of the princes, managed to obtain from Freedomguard a special authorization to create coins so Free Nation shields are made only in Vassen and in the capital. The palace of coin is a fortress well protected by a chosen Bloodborn guard as a massive amount of precious metals and coins is stored there. Vassen is located in a natural port in the southern part of the archipelago, the city have grown around it in a quite chaotic way, as most district expand when their Trade Prince patron is rich and then fall in despair when his coffers run dries. Many architectural styles are represented in Vassen and the presence of foreigner is only inferior to Freedomguard. One of the most important feature of the city is the Major Market, that constitute the core of the town and is not under the influence of any Trade Lord, but operated with funds from the city coffers, it is considered a sign of prestige to donate the money to favor the development of the Major Market so it its marketplaces are usually well cared and the district is rich of buildings that are true marvels of architecture. A part from Bloodguard that protect the coinage of Free Nations’ shields Vassen have no permanent military or militia, but the Trade Prince command vast personal forces of mercenary and trusted servants that are used to provide some sort of security. Many of the princes used these personal “armies” as a way to increase their control over the city, however they rarely resort to violence. The city also has a large number of artificers and a production of Bloodstone Weaponry especially personal weapons and guns that are almost considered works of art in the other cities. '''Nitha is an isolated monastery city, its inhabitants did not want to be involved in Free Nations politics and so founded a small community within an island far from Freedomguard, they are occasionally visited by small commercial vessels that bring them the goods that they can’t produce by themselves and new recruits that want to join them. The monastery city is located on a large pure bloodstone vein harvested by the monks that have become quite rich by selling and refining it. The pure bloodstone is used to produce a less intrusive and addictive variation of the Elixir of Sin that is used by the monks to achieve a better communion with their god. The city is built on the top of a large mountain and is accessible only by a small passage that lead to the sea or by air, after an assault by a group of pirates that attempted to conquer the monastery for themselves it is protected by a cluster of burst cannon and a group of monks trained in the art of war. The monastery is built in stone, structured like a large fortress within its wall live a large community, it host many temples within it, as the Free Nation have a total freedom in religion, while the one of Hensen is the largest the city has many worshipers of other gods, primarily Shurka and Kiptar. The monastery itself is a place where free thinking is encouraged and produces many of the greatest philosophers and scientists in the Free Nation, the monks are able to teach techniques that open the mind of those who practice it, increasing creativity and personal potential. Some of the monks are part of the Hydra Society and they enjoy a friendly relation with the organization that keep one of its main center of power within the monastery city. Unknown to the rest of the world, and to most of the monks a group of Unshaped reside within the bloodstone mining complex, there they research twisted magic that will, one day, allow them freedom of movement in creation and occasionally posses the pilgrims and monks in order to spread their own influence in the Free Nations. Qar'Dask is a large subterran city, built with the sole purpose of serving as a place where mages and artifficers can freely research, even working on matters that are usually forbidden or considered to foul be exposed to the general population. The city also host a large port, built on the surface with massive arsenals that produce the strongest Free Nations battleship and even the Portal Ship Desiryon was created there. It is rumored that Freedomguard financed the construction of Qar'Dask in order to have access to the most wicked weapons and researches in order to increase its own power and influence, another rumor talks about the presence of a secret laboratory, that predated the construction of the city, where agents from Freedomguard experimented on their own people to try to uncover the secret of Novost artificial bloodborn. Qar Daks is built in a large natural cave complex near a subterran lake, illumination is provided by a few large bloodstone crystal formations that cover the whole city in a red light, the core of the city is a cluster of structure that host laboratories, libraries, lare halls where debates can be made, impressive gardens where the weirdest works of art are exposed (as even philosophy is considered something that can be experimented here).